


Flawed Systems

by orphan_account



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Broken System, Divorced Lestrade, Johnlock - Freeform, M/M, Mainly Lestrade and Mycroft, mystrade, soulmate's name is written on your wrist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 02:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6834799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gregory Lestrade is a middle aged man tasked with the job of finding people's soulmates. He's given up on believing in the soulmate system after his wife and he get divorced, believing he'll never find love again, and he spends many a night drinking himself to sleep, until an estranged man walks into his office, baring an umbrella and the wish of finding his younger brother's soulmate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  Greg Lestrade was a middle aged man who worked for a private agency that raked in cash from whatever unfortunate person needed help finding their soulmate. In a world where your soulmate's first name is etched into the skin of your wrist, Greg was paid top dollar for finding out who matched who.

  Of course, Greg knew that this system was deeply flawed, for his soulmate's name had been Susie. He'd found her easily enough, and they had been in what Greg had thought was a happy marriage, until he caught her cheating on him. If the system had been perfect, Susie would have been content with her husband, and Greg wouldn't have been heart broken, turning to the bottle after their divorce.

  Greg had hoped that working for the agency would give him the opportunity to help others out, but even more flaws where brought to his knowledge. He'd had cases where trans people would come in, not knowing if their birth name was written on their soulmate's arm or not, asexual aromatic people came in with names written on their arms, wondering if there was something wrong with them, and sometimes someone would have more than one soulmate. But what pained him most was when someone found out that their soulmate had died young. They'd cry for their lost potentially perfect future, knowing that even if they found love again, insurance companies wouldn't insure their spouse, because their name didn't match the wrist.

  It was a broken system, fucking people up and screwing them over time and time again, never guarantying a happy ending. But people made their own happy endings, and that’s what kept Greg going. He found himself asking the same question every night: **_If they can be happy without their soulmate, what about me?_**

He asked himself this every day, until a posh, red haired man walked into his office, umbrella in hand.


	2. Chapter 2

 

  “You are the investigator I presume?” said the man, speaking in a very sophisticated sort of way.

  Greg was so involved in finishing up the paperwork of his last case that he didn’t notice the man had walked in, until the sound of someone dramatically clearing their throat. He looked up with a start to find the ginger man leaning to the side in front of his cluttered desk, supporting himself on a slate grey umbrella.

  “You are Lestrade, correct?” the man asked, nodding to the peeling letters that clinged to the window on his office door.

  “Yes… yes, sorry about that!” he said quickly, turning slightly red as he stood up quickly from his chair and stuck out his hand towards the man. “Yes, that’s me, Lestrade” he said, putting on his best charming smile and shaking the man’s hand. “And you are?”

  “Mycroft Holmes. I called Monday about my brother.” The man-Mycroft- said, his gaze following Greg as he walked to a filing cabinet and began rummaging through folders of various colors.

  “William S. S. Holmes?” Greg asked, not pausing as he continued to look through the folders.

  “Indeed.”

  “Well then,” Greg said, pulling out a manila folder that was a particularly ugly shade of green. He walked back over to his desk, pulled a form out from under an abnormally large book, and handed it to Mycroft. “You both will need to fill this paper out. Is he here in the building?” Mycroft looked up from the form he’d been filling out and smiled.

 

  An annoyed Sherlock sat pouting in the passenger seat of the sleek black car, arms crossed over his chest in defiance. He’d already said he wasn’t going to get out, and there was no turning back now.

  “Sherlock, brother dear, do please get out of the car for Mr. Lestrade.” Mycroft said in annoyance from outside the car’s window. Sherlock merely rolled the car window up so he didn’t have to hear his brother. “I’m terribly sorry, he isn’t usually like this.” Mycroft said, turning to Greg, who was standing in the parking lot with an amused smile on his face.

  “No bother at all. My nephews are the same way, young and not a hint of respect for others.” He said with a smile. “I got this,” he said, clapping Mycroft on the back before walking around the car to the driver’s side, opening the door and getting in, much to Mycroft’s surprise.

  “So,” Greg started, settling into the leather seat, pulled out a few papers from the horrifically green folder and clicked his pen rapidly a few times,” Tell me about yourself.” Sherlock just glared daggers at him. Greg sighed in exasperation.

  “Look,” he said, turning towards the young 20 year old with a mop of raven curls and piercing blue eyes that would have been unnerving if it weren’t for the fact that seeing him pout like a small child was so funny. “I don’t want to do this anymore than you do, paperwork is the boring part, but it’s necessary.” Sherlock turned his head slightly to look at Greg, and looked him over quickly.

  “What my brother was thinking, bringing me here, I have no clue. I don’t need a soulmate, and I certainly don’t need an alcoholic, sleep deprived man who couldn’t even keep a marriage with his **_soulmate_** intact. So what gives you the idea that you can find my soulmate and make it work?”

  Greg sat there dumbfounded. How could this kid have possibly known about his drinking issue or the fact that he’d been divorced recently? The sleep deprivation was easy for one to guess; his coworkers where constantly coming up to him and asking about the bags under his eyes, but the rest seemed impossible for a complete stranger to know. “God I feel sorry for your soulmate” Greg said with a chuckle.

 

  “Of course your soulmate is something as generic as _John_.” Greg said with a groan as he slumped back in his office chair. The two Holmes brothers where currently standing in the office, Mycroft examining Greg’s meager collection of books, some work related, others belonging to his ex-wife’s niece and nephew from when they used to visit him at work; Sherlock digging through loose files lying about and occasionally tossing papers to the side, adding on to Lestrade’s quickly growing headache.

  “Really, I don’t _need_ my soulmate. There’s no need in troubling yourself, detective.” Sherlock said, looking up from a particularly fat manila folder.

  “If you want to inherit the money Mummy and Father have for you, then you do need your soulmate.” Mycroft said, snapping the thin book in his hands shut. Sherlock glared at his brother.

  “I can get a job if I want.” He said defiantly.

  “Oh really,” Mycroft said, raising an eyebrow. “So, you being fired from the pet store was your choice?”

  “You know perfectly well those experiments where harmless. At least I’m not some well-dressed puppet like you.”

  “Oh, I’m the puppet? You seem to be forgetting-“

  “Shut up Fatcroft!”

  Greg watched in amusement as the two stared each other down, staring at each other with those cold, calculating eyes, before turning their backs at precisely the same time. Greg cleared his throat before saying loudly,

  “So, William-“

  **_“Sherlock!”_** they both said automatically.

  “Er, right, Sherlock, it’s most common for one’s soulmate to be a person you are close to, emotionally or proximity wise, so, if you know anyone by the name of John, that would be extremely helpful. A friend from school, maybe even a neighbor that used to live near you?”

  “You don’t think my family would have jumped at every kid named John they met?” he said bitterly.

  “Sherlock, watch your tone” snarled Mycroft out of nowhere. Sherlock looked taken aback. He’d never seen his brother get so mad at so little.

  “Lestrade is doing us a great favor, putting his time and effort into finding your soulmate so that you can inherit your money. Now if you don’t mind,” he said more calmly this time, “please refrain from any snarky or sarcastic comments.”

  Sherlock looked between Mycroft and Greg, a scowl etched into his face. Greg could feel his cheeks flushed red.

  “Really, it’s-er- no problem at all.” He mumbled, loosening the tie around his neck a bit. The two Holmes brothers said nothing. “I’ll just, get a list of all the Johns in your area and start from there then…”

**Author's Note:**

> I know the beginning is really short, but I'll add longer chapters, this is just the intro. If you wish to see something else in later chapters, please comment them below. As always, criticism and any other opinions are welcome, and I hope you enjoy! School will be out soon and hopefully I will post chapters regularly. Thx :)


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